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CNX Nifty – 11,407.15	37,930.77 – Sensex
Nasdaq – 7,816.28	25,764.00 – Dow Jones

 

Economy

Bank of Baroda

State-owned @BankOfBaroda is considering the option of rationalising 800-900 branches across the country to improve operational efficiency, following its merger with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank.

Essar Steel

Debt-ridden @Essar Steel has registered an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) of Rs 4,229 crore during its Corporate Insolvency Resolution period (over 600 days).

GST – Double Taxation

Association of Power Producers (APP) has urged the @FinMinIndia to provide relief from double taxation on imported coal for the dry fuel-starved electricity generating firms.

Merger – L&T and Mindtree Ltd

“Acquisition of @Mindtree_Ltd is the top agenda for infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro at the moment and eventually the mid-sized IT firm is going to be transformed into a big company,” said L&T Group Chairman A M Naik.

 

Healthcare

Mera Aspataal

Mera Aspataal is a citizen-centric mobile application which helps in improving the quality of services in public and empanelled private health facilities. It is an IT-based feedback system which collects on patients’ level of satisfaction using a multi-channel approach.

 

History

Martin Luther King

On 19 May 1963 excerpts from Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ were published. The text, written on 16 April, in the margins of a newspaper became an important text for the Civil Rights movement.

Birthday – Ruskin Bond

“The world keeps on changing, but there is always something, somewhere, that remains the same” – Ruskin Bond

 

Investment / Insurance

Aditya Birla Health Insurance

Usually it takes upto 7 years for an insurance company to break-even after high investments in the beginning. We plan to do it in 5-6 years by FY23: Mayank Bathwal, Chief Executive Aditya Birla Health Insurance

 

Politics

Is There Again A Modi Wave?

A change that happened 5 years ago, the coming of Modi Government full of promises and dreams. Today was the lastSome phase voting and coming of the exit polls. Was Modi Government successful in satisfying the citizens with their work? Would it be like 2014, where BJP won more than what was predicted?…..Some say it was a miracle, what do you think?

Today’s Chanakya was accurate in 2014, predicting 340 BJP+ and this time it has predicted 350 (+/-14) and BJP alone at 300 (+/-14).

According to Chanakya, BJP will be able to sustain power solely in its own hand

Some other polls were:

	NDA	UPA	Others
5forty3	364	94	85
India Today	339-365	77-108	69-95
Chanakya	350	95	97
News 18 Network / CNN-IBN	336	82	124
VDP	333	115	94
Times Now VMR	306	132	104
Times Of India	306	152	84
Republic JanKiBaat	295-305	122-125	102-125
NDTV	302	127	148
News X Neta	298	128	116
Republic C-Voter	287	128	117
News Nation	282-290	118-126	130-138
ABP News	267	127	148
News X	242	162	136

Nearly all of them are forecasting the majority of the NDA Government. Hence it is probable that Mr. Narendra Modi will continue his tenure but in a coalition or with a full majority, thats the question!

 

Railways

Electrification

Electrification boost to Jharsuguda-Angul line in Odisha, as trains with electric engines have started running on the line after completion of electrification works on the route.

 

Sports

Badminton

The world body governing Badminton, BFA, launches two new formats of game – Air Badminton & Triples.

Tennis – Italian Open

Rafael Nadal beats world number one Novak Djokovic, wins the Italian Open title.

Technology

Water Technology

Japanese multinational firm @lixil_official expects India to be one of the top 3 global markets outside its home country for water technology business in next 7-8 years.

 

World

Boeing

Boeing acknowledged that it had to correct flaws in its 737 MAX flight simulator software used to train pilots, after two deadly crashes involving the aircraft that killed 346 people.

SGBV Protection

On 24-25 May, the @UN, @ICRC and Member States will come together to raise funds to support SGBV protection, which is less than 1% of global humanitarian funding. The time for action is now.

Billionaires – China

China has second-most billionaires in the world.

Australian Elections

PM Narendra Modi congratulates Australian PM ScottMorrison on his victory in the elections.

BREXIT

British PM Theresa May promises new and improved deal to save her Brexit agreement.

Saudi Arabia – Iran

Saudi Arabia says it wants to avert war in the region but stands ready to respond with ‘all strength’, tells Iran that the ball was now in its court.

Sudan

Sudan Alliance for Freedom & Change says, they will insist on civilian head for new governing body in new talks with army rulers.

 

Article

Rationalisation Of Bank Branches

The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980 provide that the Central Government, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), may make a scheme, inter alia, for the amalgamation of any nationalised bank with any other nationalised bank or any other banking institution.

Rationalisation is the reorganisation of a company in order to increase it’s operating efficiency. Now, after Bank of Baroda is merged with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, it is not correct in terms of business views to have two or three of these bank’s branches at a single location.

A simple example, suppose an area with population of 5,000 has two banks in its vicinity, Bank of Baroda and Dena Bank. Now both the branches will try to capture these 5,000 people but in the end, the revenue of Dena Bank will belong to the revenue of Bank of Baroda as it has acquired Dena Bank. Now, if Bank of Baroda closes Dena Bank, only one branch can work efficiently and target those 5,000 people with half the running cost (2 branches instead of 1 branch)

It is to be noted that when State Bank of India (SBI) amalgamated its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank in April 2017, it rationalised about 1,500 branches across the country.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=187334, https://www.livemint.com, https://www.worldbank.org, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/odisha-trains-run-with-electric-engines-in-jharsuguda-angul-line/articleshow/69387316.cms?from=mdr